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W. K. HODGMANP REGISTERING APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PRESSES. No. 593,658.

(No Model.)

Patented Nov. 16, 1897.

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* NITE TATES WILLIS K. HODGMAN, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HUBER PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REGISTERING APPARATUS FOR PRlNTlNG-PRES SES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,658, dated November 16, 1897.

Application filed April 21, 1897. Serial No. 633,101. (No model.) A

To all whom it may concern:- Y

Be it known that I, .WILLIS K. HODGMAN, of Taunton, county of Bristol, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Registering Apparatus for Printing-Presses,

of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. v

This invention relates to the class of tworevolution printing-presses, so called, in which the impression-cylinder is rotated continuously and makes two revolutions while the reciprocating bed or form-carrier makes one complete stroke, the impression-cylinder and form being slightly separated during the return stroke of the bed. In such presses it is most essential to the ,production of good Workthat the registration shall be accurate-that is, the different parts of the form must arrive opposite the same points on the cylinder at each impression, and I have attained such accuracy of registration throughout the entire period of printing by positively moving the cylinder and bed or form-carrier in unison during such period. Presses of this character have various mechanical devices which are supposed to reciprocate the bed and rotate the cylinder in unison during the printing period, but all such mechanical devices, of which there are a great number, are at times apt to fail to register accurately during the printing period, this failure being due chiefly to improper construction, which results in lost motion or wear of the operative parts. To obviate any liability of false registration, due to lost motion and wear of the usual bed and cylinder actuating mechanism during the-printing stroke, I have devised the apparatus herein to be described, and it is to be applied to any of the usual presses of the character specified, my improvements so added operating as an auxiliary means to insure complete and accurate registration during the period of printing, notwithstanding lost motion, as stated, in the regular operative parts. One form of usual mechanical devices by which to impart to the bed and cylinder these regular motions for printing is shown in United States Patent No. 417,826, dated December 24, 1889; but in this embodiment of myinvention Ishall, for sake of clearness, omit the regular driving mechanism for the bed and cylinder and shall show only my improved apparatus or mechanism which is to be used as auxiliary to such or any other usual well-known driving means commonly employed in presses of the character herein referred to.

In this present invention the registeringgearis fast on the impression-cylinderand the registering-rack is fast on the bed, and between the said registering-gear and registering-rack I have placed a shaft having at or near each end a gear, said shaft, in addition to its motion of rotation, being also capable of being so moved at the desired times as to effect the disengagement of one of said gears from either the said registeringrack or gear. In one form of my invention this shaft may slide in its bearings, so that while one of said gears may remain continuously in mesh with either the registering-gear or the registeringrack, and the other of said gears maybe made to engage intermittingly with either the registering-rack or the registering-gear during the printing stroke of the press,one of the said shaft-gears being out of mesh with relation to said registering rack or gear on-the back stroke of the press, as will be described.

Figure 1, in section in the line 00, Fig. 2, represents a sufficient portion of a two-revolution printing-press to enable my invention to be understood; and Fig. 2 is a partial crosssection and left-hand end view. 1 Figs. 3 and 4 show a modified form of my invention, and Fig. 5 yet another modification to be described. Figs. 6-and 7 are details showing a modified form of this invention.

The framework A, the printing-cylinder at, having its journals mounted in verticallymovable bearings a, having arms a extended down to and mounted on eccentrics a? at the ends of a rock-shaft a and the bed a ,carrying the form a, are and may be substantially such as designated by like letters in United States Patent No.'544,809, dated August 20, 1895.

In that patent the bed had fast to it at one 7 IOO ments to mesh with the teeth of said rack.

Herein, however, I have provided the bed with a registering-rack b, and I have provided the cylinder, near one end, with a registeringgear 0, the said rack having teeth all in one line and the gear being a continuous gear with teeth all in one line. Below the bed in suitable bearings e I have mounted a shaft f, it being provided with a hub f, grooved externally to receive a roller or other stud at the upper end of a leverf pivoted at f, the lower end of said lever having a second roller or other stud f", entering a cam-groove in a hub f fast on a shaft f, said hub and shaft being shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The shaft f is provided with two toothed gears g and 9", one at each end. The gear g, as represented in Fig. 2, meshes with the registering-gear e, and it always remains in mesh with said gear during the operation of the press and while the cylinder continues its rotation. The gear 9, however, may be put into mesh with the registering-rack b, or it may be put out of gear with relation to said rack, the latter condition being shown in Fig. 2. The gear 9 is put into or out of operation with the rack b by sliding the shaft f through the cam-hub f The cylinder-shaft has an attached toothed gear cl, which, through an intermediate (1 engages and rotates a toothed gear (1, which may be fixed upon the shaftf, imparting one rotation to said shaft to two rotations of the cylinder.

\Vhen the cylinder and bed are making the forward or printing stroke by means of or through any usual bed and cylinder moving devices common to presses of the class herein referred to, the shaft f is moved to the left, viewing Fig. 2, and the gear g is in mesh with the registering-rack I), and in such condition the bed is compelled to move exactly in unison with the cylinder-that is, the surface speeds are made exactly the same notwithstanding any lost motion or wear in the regular bed and cylinder actuating parts to which my said devices act as an auxiliary means to insure absolute registration during the period of printing. At the close of the forward or printing stroke the cam f effects the sliding of the shaft f to the right, putting the gear 9 out of mesh with relation to the registeringrack b, and thereafter while the bed is being returned into its position by its usual actuatin g devices preparatory to again being moved through its forward or printing stroke, the cylinder at such time being slightly lifted, as provided for in said patent. At such time my auxiliary apparatus has no influence whatever in actuating the bed or cylinder.

It will be understood that the bed herein shown will be provided with mechanism substantially such as represented in United States Patent No. 417,826, dated December 24, 1889, for moving it to and fro with relation to the continuously-movin g cylinder, and the shaft f, its attached gears, and the registering-gear and the registering-rack, which are the chief novelties in this invention, will be added to that class of machine.

It will be obvious that this invention would not be departed from by making the teeth of the registering-rack b wider and the teeth of the registering-gear e narrower, so that the gear g would remain continuously in mesh with the registering-rack and the gear 9 go into and out of mesh with relation to the registering-gear e at the proper times, it being out of mesh when the rack was 011 its back stroke.

As a modification of my invention a shaft 0* (see Figs. 3 and at) may be mounted near one end in a pivoted bearing 7*, it being free to oscillate about a horizontal trunnion 7' at right angles to the shaft 7', the other bearing 0* for said shaft being a box fitted to slide between guide-walls r of the frame. The shaft 7 has a gear 0"", which meshes with the registering-gear e, and at its outer end a gear 0', which meshes with the registering-rack. The bearing 7- is pivoted on a lever r pivoted at r, and connected at its opposite end to a leg r slotted and surrounding the shaft f, said leg having a pin n, which rests on a cam 92, fast on said shaft, said cam lowering said lever r and the bearing 0' when the bed is on its back stroke, thus disengaging the gear 0" from the registering-rack.

It will be obvious that the bearing 0' may be reversed and placed at the left-hand end of the shaft 1, so that the registering-gear 0'" may be the one which may be disengaged instead of the registering-rack.

Ilaving described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a printing-press having a continuouslyrotating cylinder and a reciprocating bed, a registering apparatus comprehending the following instrumentalities, viz: a registeringgear carried by said cylinder, a registeringraek carried by said bed, an intermediate r0- tatable shaft provided with two gears, one of which is always in mesh with the registeringgear or the registering-rack, and means to move said shaft to cause the other gear carried thereby to intermittingly engage and then be put out of mesh with either said registering-rack or said registering-gear, whereby during only the printing period the said registering apparatus becomes an auxiliary controlling means operating in connection with the regular bed and cylinder moving devices to insure the movement of the bed and cylinder in absolute registration, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIS K. IIODGMAN.

\Vitnesses:

BERTHOLD HUBER, *FRED M. A'rwoon. 

